10. THE ACCEPTANCE OF THE QUR’AN’S
CHALLENGE (1)
One
of the great Muslim scholars in Egypt in the late 20th century was
Dr. Ibrāhīm Khalīl. He was a medical doctor, a
physician, but interested in Qur’an and comparative study of religions. Among
his writings are: وَتَكَلَّمَ اْلجِلْدُ
– دِرَاسَةٌ عَنِ اْلجِلْدِ فِي اْلعِلْمِ وَ اْليَهُوْدِيَّةِ وَ النَّصْرَانِيَّةِ
وَ اْلإِسْلاَم (“And
Skin Talked – A Study on Skin in Science, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam”),
الزِّلْزَالُ فِي اْلعِلْمِ وَ التَّوْرَاةِ وَالْإنْجِيْلِ وَ اْلقُرْآن (“Earthquakes in science, the Torah,
the Gospel, and the Qur’an”), and الدَّمُ فِي
اْلعِلْمِ وَ التَّوْرَاةِ وَالْإنْجِيْلِ وَ اْلقُرْآن (“Blood in Science, the Torah, the
Gospel, and the Qur’an”).
In 1 January, 1993, Dr. Ibrāhīm Khalīl,
published his book entitled لِمَاذَا أَسْلَمَ صَدِيْقِيْ وَ رَأْيُ اْلفَاتِيْكَان فِيْ تَحَدِّيَاتِ
اْلقُرْآن “(Why My Friend Became Muslim and the View of Vatican on the
Challenges of the Qur’an”). It was published at Maktabat al-Turāth
al-Islāmī in Cairo, Egypt.
In this book Dr. Ibrāhīm Khalīl talked
about his colleague and friend whom he does not identify, perhaps for being a
Christian, who
tried to accept the challenge of the Qur’an by producing something similar to
it. His friend, whom we call here “Dr. So-and-so”, thought that for a long
period of time he would be able to defeat the challenge of the Qur’an and kept
dreaming day and night that one day he would be able to write a book entitled وَاْنَتهَتْ تَحَدِّيَاتُ اْلقُرْآن (“[The] Qur’an
Challenge is Overruled and Obsolete”). He even planned to write
some chapters in this book, such as اْلقَضَاءُ عَليَ أَكْبَرِ اْلأكَاذِيْبِ الدِّيْنِيَّةِ
فِى التَّارِيْخ (“The Extermination on the Greatest Religious Lies in
History”), and وَأَخِيْرًا هَزَمْنَا اْلقُرْانَ بِالضَّرْبَةِ
القَاضِيَة (“And finally we defeated the
Qur’an with fatal blow”). He dreamed that he would be offered by
publishers to publish it, and he would become very rich after being translated
into living languages. At the same time this book would awaken the Muslims from
their negligence or foolishness in believing in the Qur’an as revelation from
God.
In
his dialogue with the author (Dr. Ibrāhīm Khalīl) Dr. So-and-so said that he
found that the Qur’an challenges people to produce one chapter similar to it.
He found sūrat al-Ikhlāṣ (chapter 12) which consists of 15 words. Since
the challenge has been made for 14 centuries without any response, the author
told him to extend the time he needed from two to three months.
After
three months at the appointed time the author visited Dr. So-and-so. He told
him that he had asked the assistance of 174 of his friends, as well as his
acquaintance and Christian scholars, but most of them refused to help him, and even
advised him to abandon this attempt.
But Dr.
So-and-so said that 25 persons among his most faithful friends who were
enthusiastic for Christianity had promised to assist him, and the author gave
him four month time, instead of three months he had requested, to finish the
project. He asked the author what would be his reaction if he succeeded in
challenging the Qur’an, but the author reversed the question, asking him what
would happen if he failed. He said that in that case it would be impossible to
reach mutual understanding, and insisted that he would prevail.
After
four months the author met his friend who looked sad and frustrated. He said that
all his friends disappointed him and made groundless excuses, such as lack of
time, the death of one of his relatives, etc. despite their mastery of Arabic
language, and some of them were notable writers in Egyptian magazines and
newspapers. The author reminded him, that the same thing had happened when the
Qur’an was revealed, and it was the golden era of Arabic language, and he also
offered him to abandon the attempt and to admit his failure. He declined, until
he studied the Qur’an word by word, and after two more months he would visit
him.
After
two months Dr. So-and-so visited the author and told him that apparently it
would be impossible to produce a chapter similar to that of the Qur’an. But he
was optimistic and planned to write an objective book which would turn the
world upside down, entitled وَاْنَتهَتْ تَحَدِّيَاتُ
اْلقُرْآن (“[The] Qur’an Challenge is
Overruled and Obsolete”). He said that he had visited many universities in
England, Belgium, Netherlands, France, and the United States where some of its
professors master Arabic language more than both of them. They gave Ph.D. title
to those who study Arabic language. He would ask each
of them to compose a chapter like that of the Qur’an. He had the names and
address of universities and educational institutions all over the world,
including the names, positions and fields of study of their staffs from a guide
book he had bought. He showed the author the letter he would sent to
two-thousand universities and institutes of learning, as well as Catholic and
Protestant Religious Centres which concerned with Arabic language, Comparative
studies of Religion and Oriental studies. In this letter he said that he was a
physician of 41 years old, claiming to be Catholic, whereas in fact, he was
Orthodox, and gave a different name. The date of the letter was 25 November,
1989, almost 25 years ago. He expected to receive over 2000 reply each with a
chapter, so that his book would contain at least 2000 chapters.
In
his letter in English Dr. So-and-so said that he had a Muslim friend, meaning Dr. Ibrāhīm Khalīl, the author
with whom he had discussion about religion, and expected him to become a
Christian. But he was surprised to find that the Qur’an had challenged the
human beings since 1400 years ago until now to produce a chapter similar to
that of the Qur’an, and that chapter 112 contains 15 words only. By accepting
the challenge of the Qur’an, it would be expected to be an effective means in
conducting a scientific debate with Muslims. He admitted that in spite of his
mother tongue being Arabic, he was unable to write fifteen words similar to the
chapter of the Qur’an, simply because he had never read it and was not
interested in reading it. He requested that a chapter containing at least
fifteen words with the highest standard of eloquence similar to that of the
Qur’an to be sent to him. He would collect these chapters in a book entitled (“[The]
Qur’an Challenge is Overruled and Obsolete” and would be evidence to the
Muslims that the Qur’an was not revealed from God. He also said that he had
asked his friend to give him 3 till 4 months to complete the book.
When
the author asked Dr. So-and-so why he said he was Catholic while he was
Orthodox, and why he did not tell them in his letter that he and his friends
had failed to make a chapter consisting of fifteen words, his answer was that it
was because the majority of the Christians in the West were Catholic, and he
did not mentioned his and his friends’ failure because he did not want to set
their enthusiasm back in hating and disregarding Islam and the Qur’an. He also
request them not mentioned the addresses in his guide book in order that he might
get confidential addresses, to whom he would ask them to do the same, and to
ensure his success in writing the book.
One month, forty days… fifty days had
passed, and yet, not a single response was received. Therefore, as a second
attempt, he sent the same letter to the same addresses, with three additions in
the letter: “(1) This circular letter had been sent all-over the world on 25
November 1989; (2) The answer I‘ve received were actually very encouraging; (3)
I suppose I’ll receive your reply after some 2-4 weeks in order to accomplish
my interesting book and the collection of these replies would be published in ‘an
exciting book’”. The letter was written on 20 November, 1990.
The
author found that Dr. So-and-so did not say that he and his friends themselves
in Egypt had failed in doing what he requested in the letter. He only said that
he had not attempted to do so, because he could not read the Qur’an and did not
like to read it. He lied about the response of his previous letters, when he
said that he had received very encouraging letters, whereas in fact he had not
received any response. His purpose was to encourage the addressees to respond
with a chapter of their writings, while in fact, he had not received any reply.
Eventually, the response came from
England, as follows:
SCHOOL OF ORIENTAL AND AFRICAN STUDIES (SOAS)
UNIVERSITY OF LONDON
Near and Middle East Department
Dr. Owen Wright
Head of the Department
Dear Dr,
I hope you will understand that both the individual
members of staff of SOAS, and the School itself, abstain from religious
controversy and that in consequence we cannot accede to your request.
Yours
sincerely,
[Signed]
Dr.
Owen Wright
The second letter
was from Vatican with a long letter by Reverent Leo Arnold on 10 May, 1990 on
behalf of the dean of the Faculty of Oriental Ancient Studies of Pontificio
Istituto Biblico (Papal Biblical Institute) where he taught Arabic; among the
contents of this letter are as follows:
“… As
Christians, of course, we do not accept the Quran as the word of God, even
though we may admire it as a masterpiece of Arabic literature. An Egyptian
colleague of mine says that the best parts of the Quran remind him of parts of
the Bible, but that, of course, does not mean that it is inspired by God, as
the Bible is.
“… A
practical objection to the challenge to produce a sura like the suras
of the Quran is: who is going to judge whether any such attempt, if ever made,
is successful or not? You would need to
have an impartial judge to decide, and would have to be an expert in
pre-Islamic and early Islamic literature. He would also have to be impartial,
preferably neither a Christian nor a Moslem. Such a person would be very
difficult to find, if not impossible.”
The third letter
comes from l’Université de Liège,
d’histoire et de littératures orientales (University of Liege, Dept. of
History and Oriental Literature) in Belgium, on 16 May, 1990,
“…. On the
Christian side, the polemic – as far as I know – was not concerned by the form,
but of course by the point which is dealt with. To the non-Muslim, the Quran is
simply, if I may say so, a human work: Muhammad’s work….[signed] … Aubert
Martin.”
Dr. So-and-so complained to the author
that he had spent thousands of Egyptian pounds in sending 8092 letters, namely,
sending 2023 addressees four times, and he received only five letters without any
satisfactory reply. He got 88 addresses of 88 countries from a book freely
distributed world-wide, entitled “The Scripture: the Words of God or the Words
of Man.” He sent to the USA 1043 letters, to Europe 400 letters, to Australia
40 letters, to Asia 182 letters, to Africa 51 letters, and to South America 99
letters. As he did not receive any reply, he sent again and again, until four
times, also without getting any satisfactory reply.
The
author wanted to share Dr. So-and-so the expense, because he had
unintentionally served Islam by quoting in his letters four Qur’anic verses
challenging people to produce something similar to it. The Prophet said, بَلِّغُوْا عَنِّيْ وَلَوآيَة (رواه أحمد) (“Report from
me, even with one verse”). The author told him of the other challenge of the
Qur’an, namely, to create a fly (as mentioned in the early khutbah),
that man will never succeed in creating a fly, and until now we cannot create even
a single cell. (CIVIC, 14 February, 2014)
According
to Orientalists any masterpiece, such as the painting of Mona Lisa by Leonardo
da Vinci and that of the Creation of Adam by Michelangelo in the 16th century, cannot be competed in its excellence. The Qur’an,
being Muhammad’s masterpiece, is included in this category, but does not
necessarily mean that it is revelation from God. (CIVIC, 14 February, 2014)
[TO
BE CONTINUED]
المراجع:
المكتبة الشاملة
د. إبراهيم خليل. لِمَاذَا أَسْلَمَ صَدِيْقِيْ
وَ رَأْيُ اْلفَاتِيْكَان فِيْ تَحَدِّيَاتِ اْلقُرْآن. القاهرة: مكتبة التراث العلمي, 1993
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